Plan a Summer Road Trip to This Iconic and Endangered Massachusetts Pond

There is nothing quite like getting in your car and going to a place that you have never been to before, especially one as inspiring as this famous pond.

Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts is adored not only because of it's natural beauty, but also because of writer and nature lover, Henry David Thoreau.

According to walden.org, Walden Pond is listed as one of America's "most endangered Historic Places."  It is being threatened by a nearby development.

Thoreau Wished to Live Deliberately

Walden Pond was Thoreau's muse.

From his book, Walden:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.  Henry David Thoreau

 

Walden Pond was Thoreau's Home

At the Walden Pond State Reservation, you can check out a replica of Thoreau's one room cabin.  It's ironic that so many people come to visit each year.  Thoreau probably wouldn't want that.

This Concord, Mass Pond Has History

If you haven't read any of Thoreau's books or essays, I highly suggest them.  Since college, I have had this quote hanging somewhere in my house:

....if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.  Henry David Thoreau

His books are filled with quotes that will stop you in your tracks, especially if you love nature like I do.

Walden Pond is approximately a half hour from Boston, an hour and 10 minutes from Portsmouth, NH and about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Portland, Maine.  It's inspiring and worth the drive.

There's a part of me that doesn't want anyone to visit, ever.  Having said that, I'll probably go back.  It's a very special place.